Diksha Sundriyal
‘Black Lightning’ is a superhero show that airs on The CW. Set in a city named Freeland, it follows the story of a high school principal named Jefferson Pierce. It has been nine years since he gave up the mantle of a superhero because he didn’t like the unintended effect it had on the city and the people. Also, he has made a promise to his ex-wife about that; they want their children to have normal lives.
However, when the city, once again, goes through a turmoil that he can’t ignore, he has to redo the cape. While the danger of the 100 and the tensions in his own family are drama enough for Pierce, what truly brings him out of the closet is his love for the city that he grew up in. It is about saving the world, but most of the time, it is about saving Freeland, which is what makes location one of the key factors of the story. Here are the filming locations that have been used to bring Freeland to life.
Black Lightning Filming Locations
Like Gotham is a character of its own in Batman’s story, Freeland, too, is a lively entity in Black Lightning’s tale. To capture the vibe of the city, CW took the show to good old Atlanta. The city is one of the most active sites when it comes to filming locations and CW has a long history of filming its various shows here that have spanned for years. While other superhero shows of the network like ‘Batwoman,’ ‘Supergirl,’ ‘Arrow’ and ‘The Flash’ have Vancouver as their primary filming location, ‘Black Lightning’ has been shot extensively in Atlanta and the surrounding places like Lithonia, Norcross, Conyers, and Decatur.
Atlanta, Georgia
The crime and action take Black Lightning and his superhero daughters to all the nooks and crannies of the criminal underworld. To create these parts of Freeland, locations all over Atlanta have been used. The Seahorse Motel in the first episode of the series, where Pierce’s daughters are held in captivity by the 100, is filmed at the Economy Inn in Decatur. The Ruby Red Lipstick Bar features a number of times in the series. It first appears in the third episode of the first season when Anissa attends a costume party. The setup for the bar was created at the Boogalou Restaurant and Lounge in Atlanta.
The cast and crew were also spotted filming various scenes in the Old Fourth Ward near Parkway-Wabash Park, Joseph E. Lowery Blvd and Joseph E. Boone Blvd, Piedmont Avenue and Ponce de Leon Avenue, and Paper Mill and Johnson Ferry Roads near the Lutheran Church of Resurrection. The Muse building also features a number of times in the show.
One of the scenes in ‘Black Lightning’ depicts a peace march after Lawanda’s death. The filming for this scene took place on Mitchell and Forsyth Street. This is also where you can find that crocodile graffiti wall. There is also the scene where Black Lightning resurrects in the first episode. The alley in which the scene is filmed is located south of Cone, east of Walton Street in downtown Atlanta.
One of the recurring characters in the series is the mysterious Lady Eve. She is one of the villains that Black Lightning has to fight against. Like every other suave and stylish criminal mastermind, she lives in a lavish mansion, the filming for which took place at the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center.
Apart from the outdoor locations, the show also makes extensive use of custom-built sets and green rooms to make the series look more fantastical. For the fans of ‘The Vampire Diaries’, some of the places might seem familiar while watching ‘Black Lightning’ because the same backlot has been used for filming both the shows.
